Divergences
by FluffleNeCharka
Summary: AU. Tony died in that plane crash, leaving a shellshocked Howard to become Iron Man. Can he manage being a superhero, his son's death, and running his company? Or will the pressure be too much to take? Eventual Howard/Pepper.
1. Chapter 1

Howard Stark was thirty six when his son died.

His nightmares weren't any worse than the waking world. He dreamed of Maria, of Tony, of gray-blue eyes and smiles so awkward they were adorable, and he woke with tears in his eyes. Every day his head spun with the knowledge everything was gone. They were gone. He wasn't sure how to remain without them. Even Obadiah's gone, because he...

No, no no no. Please God, no. Howard didn't cry when the FBI asked him questions, about his friend, his best friend since high school, because this couldn't be happening. This wasn't real life. This was something out of a bad tragedy play written by someone overdosed on mysteries. Soon he'd wake up, right? This wasn't his life. His mansion was empty and Roberta was the only other person who ever visited, who asked him if he was okay with any sincerity. And he didn't know the answer. He hadn't processed this yet. He couldn't comprehend any of this as reality, so he sat in his stupidly big house on that same sentimental couch he'd had in his first apartment and he tried to think. But he couldn't shake the knowledge that Stane was the only one who knew where he was that day with Tony. No one else could have given him away. He drowned that knowledge in vodka and woke up the next day feeling lower than he had since Maria's death.

All he could do was wait for the horror to come, the anger, revulsion, hatred, and revenge he'd been anticipating as a standard response to all this. Instead, as days bled into weeks and he was healthy enough to get back to his routine, he found himself feeling empty. He smiled, but it was an empty gesture. The light had gone out of his dark brown eyes. His hugs were briefer, handshakes tighter, hair streaked with the smallest touches of gray, and there was always a pang of horrible pain when he passed Tony's room. He couldn't manage breakfast anymore when Tony wasn't there to burn the bacon and demand chocolate pancakes, so he began to skip his morning meal. And he waited for his emotions to be normal, go through the stages of grieving, so he could get back to normal.

He didn't go into denial. He didn't blame anyone. He just existed, vaguely, in that way rocks or clouds did. Obadiah should've been fired, but Howard just reassigned him away. Whenever the bald man called Howard ignored the phone, pretending to be busy. He wasn't fooling anyone, not even himself. As the entire business world fell at his feet to suck up to him in his time of need he drew farther away from everyone. Even Roberta had a hard time getting through to him. She wanted him to go to therapy. People went to therapy to talk about their feelings. Howard had none left, so the whole point was moot. Tricia left him cupcakes he ate without tasting, and Stark Industries opened up a new branch of factories in Mongolia.

Mongolia was home to the Mandarin.

The Mandarin had killed Tony. His involvement wasn't debatable like Obadiah's. Howard had seen him there in person. He had ruined everything. He was trying to get more Rings, more power, to hurt more people. Howard stared at the red armor Tony had made and thought that maybe somewhere some cosmic force was mocking him. The solution to the problem, the ability to fight this foe on near equal ground, had been given to him by his own child. The child he failed to protect. Tony had wanted to use the suit to save people. Howard swore off weapons a long time ago. He reached out and pressed his hand to the metal, seeing the reflection of a tired old man in the golden bits. His research into the Mandarin told him this was going to be a terribly one sided fight, but he couldn't sit back and let evil be done. That wasn't how he'd helped Wakanda establish its independance or how he'd helped shoot done anti-mutant laws in court.

_I won't kill the Mandarin when I find him,_ Howard promised himself. _But if I beat him up, there's not a court in the world that would fault me._

* * *

Pepper Potts was sixteen when her mother died.

Routine SHIELD stuff. Busting up a ring of terrorists in Azerbaijan, she'd thrown herself onto a grenade. Her team survived because of it. The mission succeeded because of it. There was a nation safe because Cillian Potts didn't know what fear was. Pepper cried until she slept and woke up crying. Her father tried to pack up everything her mother owned, put it all in the attic of their little brownstone house, but Pepper saved her mother's wedding dress. It was dandelion yellow, with speckles of darker orange-gold, and had an orange trim on the high neckline. There were two layers to it and when Pepper buried her face in it she could smell her mother's scents, sandalwood incense she liked to burn, lime scented perfume, and something else that was just Cillian. Pepper could see her there, dark gray eyes, crew cut auburn hair, tanned skin from so many missions in warmer climates.

It didn't help the pain, but it didn't hurt either.

She cut her hair short, not as short as her mother, because she wasn't as brave as her mother, and she got lectured by her father for it. Then she started crying and it set him off. They sniffled, held each other and tried to pull it together for work and school respectively. The funeral was the same day as Tony Stark's. And she didn't care about cases or classified information. All she knew was that Howard Stark looked how she felt. The sunshine didn't help them, it hurt them, too perfect and glorious for the worst day of their lives, and she couldn't stomach the people from SHIELD talking about her mom. It was too accurate, bringing up too many memories she couldn't relive right now. So she slipped out the back of the crowd, the world focused on Nick Fury's speech. There was a time when the thought of SHIELD's head being so close would've made her squeal with joy. Today she didn't care.

Howard Stark was having the opposite problem. He wasn't surrounded with friends, he was surrounded by people making him tear up. He was surrounded by suck ups with voices so fake she wanted to tear them apart. Her rage at the world taking her mother from her too young was suddenly transformed into raw anger at all this celebrity obssessed freaks. Howard reminded her of her own dad's eyes the way he'd looked when he got the call, and these people were circling like vultures and - she meant to tap that jerk on the shoulder, but it came across more like a slap.

"Do I know you?" the refined woman asked, and if looks could have killed she'd have burned under that clay colored gaze.

"I know you. Rianna Zodallo, CEO of some crappy knockoff company everyone hates." The woman's jaw dropped and people turned to stare. "You've been in Portugal for the last three months, so stop pretending you were Tony's best friend. Do you even know what color his eyes were, you third world abusing hypocrite?"

Rianna's fists clenched, but Howard cut her off. "That's a good question. Do you know Tony's eyes, Zodallo?"

She didn't. Her face flushed, and she turned away hastily. "I don't have to answer that."

"Glacuous, like the cloud formation, dumbass," Pepper shot back after her. Then she turned to Howard Stark, who had more money than God and who she'd never, ever seen before in her life, and began talking to him like he was her oldest friend. "Oh my God, can you believe the nerve of some people? I swear, they're not even trying anymore. Way to fail at failing and it's not a double negative. How do you keep from punching these people in the face?"

"Years of practice, miss...?"

"Pepper Potts," she said offhandedly, too mad to be nervous. She held up her hand. "Here. Take this, it'll cheer you up."

"I didn't know roses came in rainbow colored," he said quietly, taking it. "It's gorgeous."

"They make them by injecting dye into the stems. The artificial coloring stays with them as they mature," she explained, and then added, "Um, I know your family's big on technology, so... it made sense in my head."

He smiled at her, a sad, appreciative smile that made her feel like they were the only people in the world. Everything else was temporarily blocked out as she inhaled, taking in every detail of Howard's face, his black suit, the way the sunlight made his hair look light brown, so she could form a perfect memory. He was striking the way a wall struck a car, abrupt and intricately made and so solid against a sea of unreal people. The rainbow colored flower was the only color Howard had on him. He smiled down at her, benevolently.

"Yellow's an odd choice for a funeral, Miss Potts," he observed, though not unkindly.

"It was Mama's favorite color," she explained, jerking her head towards the other funeral across the cemetary. "Next to orange, but I didn't have any orange on hand."

"I know a place that could fix that." Howard smiled faintly, briefly. "Tony used to get ridiculously colorful clothes, even though they all ended up dirty and ruined eventually. I never understood that."

"It made him happy. What more explanation do you want?"

He looked into her eyes, and she felt like she was really connecting to someone, for what seemed like the first time in forever. The crowd had parted around them, the clingers and social parasites not knowing what to do now that their target was otherwise engaged. Some of them were sucking up to other people, some of them were showing some actual respect, and some were quietly leaving now that the service was over. The only thing that registered with Pepper was that Howard's eyes were so open and vulnerable she could drown in them if she let herself. She wondered if she could ever look away.

Howard handed her his cellphone number, saying solemnly, "I think I need you in my life, Miss Potts."

And all she could think to say was, "It's Pepper. Just Pepper."


	2. Chapter 2

"And that was how I found a place in New York with chitlins made right," Pepper finished explaining as she handed the box to Howard. "Tricia says it's your favorite food and you haven't been eating - which I totally get post crash - so I thought the solution was to get you something so good you couldn't refuse it."

Howard gaped up at her, paperwork temporarily forgotten. "How did you get past security when I haven't phoned you in yet? How did you get a hold of Tricia? And..." His stomach growled. "Do I have to share?"

"Nope. I'd rather be shot through the head than eat chitlins. You're just a hick." She beamed down at him affectionately. "I thought being your office assistant would be a crap job, but so far everyone's really nice! Did you know Cayan has a crush on you?"

"He's Cayan. He gets five new crushes before he's rolled out of bed. It'll fade. Just smile and nod at him and welcome to Team Stark." Howard unwrapped the box and watched Pepper's nose wrinkle in obvious disgust. "What's wrong with chitlins, anyway?"

"They're _small intestines._ I get why poor families in the middle of Missouri or Alabama eat them. But you _own_ upscale places with awesome food. Why would you tell me to go get you chitlins?"

"Because's your my gopher, and the sweetbreads place shut down." Howard smiled and then ended up trying to chuckle wth his mouth closed as Pepper froze.

She twitched slightly. "You did not just tell me the richest man alive likes _sweetbreads_."

"They remind me of my mother," he defended, indignant. "And I didn't grow up in Alabama or Missouri, for your information, and neither did she. But it reminds me of how she used to be there for me. If anybody should understand that, it's my gopher. Go for this, go for that, go for the good of the higher ups and their emotional well being."

"You need therapy," she told him bluntlly, making him chuckle anew. "Oh God, I'm not even going to run down all the reasons that sweetbread shouldn't exist. You have a banned list of foods I can't bring into the building, even if I'm asked to gopher it, and sweetbread isn't on the list."

"That's different. McDonalds is disgusting."

Pepper threw her hands up at that point, sitting down. "I want you to know my dad thinks you're creepy for giving me a summer job."

"Your father thinks all men who interact with you are creepy. It's called parenting. Get used to it," Howard instructed her calmly. She chuckled. "It's just a protective instinct. He couldn't protect your mother, so now he's overprotecting you. I'm doing the same thing with my staff and every branch of my business right now. If I could, I'd have security cameras installed in each of their houses."

She studied him quietly. He had vaguely dark circles under his eyes. He hadn't been eating. Even as he tucked into the chitlins enthusiastically, his frame was noticeably thinner to her eyes. Tricia said he'd been avoiding his house like the plague. Howard glanced up and caught Pepper staring him down. His eyes were dark, as if the light inside them had gone out. She was reminded of the look on animal's faces after they'd been put down and their heart had lost its battle to keep beating. For a moment she debated the merits of hugging her boss before deciding against it for now.

"I'm fine," he told her firmly.

"No, you're not. And that's okay," she replied thoughtfully. "It's too early for anybody who knew Tony to be fine. But if you're not going to talk about it, you could at least take care of yourself until you can. I'm worried."

"I'm your boss. That's inappropriate."

"Fire me, then."

They resumed their stony silence after that, until someone else buzzed for Pepper to go fetch some printer paper for them. She gave Howard once last look over before she slipped out of the room. Once she was gone, he put his face in his hands, and tried to think properly. Tony's smile and bright blue-gray eyes lingered in his mind. When he thought of his son, Howard felt a kind of raw anger he hadn't felt in a long, long time. He was a sworn pacifist and an unofficial diplomat in some cases. He had never been a tempermental person. It took a lot to get to him. Tony's death was a direct shot through the heart. Howard clenched his hands, tangled his fingers in his own hair and glared at his food.

He wanted revenge.

That scared him.

The one Ring he had was incentive enough for the Mandarin to eventually re-attack. And plain old human beings wouldn't stand a chance against him. It was time to get into that suit of armor, learn how it worked, look over those blue prints and notebooks of Tony's. Then he wouldn't have died in vain; his technology would be understood and eventually used properly. Right now Howard had to fight with himself not to use it to do something horrible, to keep himself from going down that dark path. It wouldn't bring Tony back. It wouldn't make anything better. All it would do was confirm everything the world believed about human nature. He had spent his whole life trying to argue for the inherent goodness of human beings. This wasn't the right response.

The right response was to go after the next Ring, study them, figure out what this technology was. Figure out what was worth killing Tony for. Eventually he would be able to understand these Rings enough to take the Mandarin's power away, keep him from killing more people. Then he would take the man behind the mask to court. He would face all his crimes there and then Howard would... well, he couldn't see much past that, because the future was uncertain without Tony in his life, but he'd be fine. He had too much money to worry about the future in that aspect. His problems were all based in the nightmarish world of other people and money and greed. His goal was no longer to plan for the future, but to survive to see it.

He pressed a button his intercom. "All gophers be aware: McDonalds is temporarily off the banned foods list for the next two weeks only."

Somewhere out there, he heard a redhead's distinctive voice squealing, "I love you Howard Stark!"

* * *

"Well, I _am_ the world's best boss," Howard sighed into the cellphone, smirking. "Roberta, please, don't give me the gopher versus union speech. They've got good wages."

"This isn't about their wages," she replied sharply. "You can't have underage workers on staff like this. Until she turns eighteen child labor laws-"

"Mean nothing because gophers work _below the table_, Roberta. She's not legally doing anything but hanging out at the building and helping out some people. And if she happens to seem a little richer, well, who can say what those crazy teens have been doing?" he rolled his eyes playfully, even though she couldn't see it. "I know what I'm doing legally, okay? Calm down."

"Rhodey says Pepper says you've been talking to her. At length."

"Roberta, darling, I know I don't know the law as well as I should, but even in California they haven't made talking illegal yet-"

"She's about Tony's age," she pressed, stressing her words in that very Roberta way he'd grown used to long ago. Unlike Tony, he rarely tuned her out. He simply didn't understand what she was getting at this time. His silence must have given that away, because she sighed and continued, "Are you sure you're not just replacing him with her?"

"What?" Howard was indignant. Then, he became sarcastic. "Yes, I'm replacing my goof ball introverted male child who knew tech better than most of our head scientists with an ultra extroverted loudmouth female who couldn't operate a jetpack without instructions. Bertie, have you been drinking?"

"You know, ever since Tony died, you've been so defensive and angry-"

"I wonder why?" he shot back dryly.

"Howard..."

"I'm busy, I'll call you back later, alright?"

"I-"

Howard switched off the cell signal with a simple firm thought, too angry to be amazed at the suit's prowess.

Right now he was busy flying. Roberta could wait. _So sorry I tried to make a friend,_ he thought to himself as he touched down on the ground seamlessly. _If only I could do cocaine or drink myself to death like my father, that'd be so much better than talking to _Pepper_. Anyone but her!_ He took three steps forward and sighed, letting the faceplate on his suit retract. _I'm... being incredibly immature about this. Of course she's worried about me. She has every right to. I'm acting crazy. I shouldn't have snapped at her._

The moonlight was positively glowing on the surface of the lake, and he could see a vague red reflection in it. Red and gold. Optimistic colors, just like Tony's personality, flashy and loud and hard to miss. He smiled grimly. _I must look pretty crazy right now. Thank God there's no one here._ If all went according to plan, even the Mandarin wouldn't be here. It was, after all, only Stark creativity and inventiveness that allowed Howard to track the energy signal of the Rings. And if he had been doing this intellectually he wouldn't have fathomed two Rings so close to each other in location.

The first Ring had been in the shattered remains of a dirty, dusty used up testing sight that had, without a doubt, been overused by many companies before Stark Industries came into existance. In the most populus state in the United States, it was one of many potholes left by the industrial state's pushes forward. This new signal he was picking up, however, was located in the Barrens, and that made more sense even than the industrial wasteland for a choice to hide something in. Even in the suit Howard didn't particularly want to be in this place, not at night. He shook off his superstitions and made his way forward on foot, trying to isolate the signal.

The New Jersey Pine Barrens were some of the thickest, densest forest in the United States. It was a spot of untouched wilderness in the heart of the highly urban state, and very few people lived within them. The only things here so far were animals showing up on his infared, and even those were fewer and far between than they should have been. The lake was easily lost behind him after twenty feet, obscured by trees. Brambles and branches reached for him, tried to snare him. A lot of people had died in the Barrens. A lot of people had gotten lost here, or lost members of their family passing through here, and there were a lot of old stories attached to this place. Fortunately in the suit he could simply fly up and determine where to go to get back to civilization. Unfortunately, the forest was screwing with the energy signal in ways he couldn't compensate for from above.

There were lots of little things here, birds, bats, squirrels and snakes lighting up the infared around him. In the dark it was easy for a lost person to be bitten by something, trip on something, fall into a pit or slip in the muddy patches. It would be easy without the armor for his arms to quickly become covered in welts and scratches from everything, to get thorns and spiders and ticks stuck in his skin. No one had ever tamed the Barrens. Even back when the Rings were hidden, this place was perfect. _Honestly, you wouldn't even have to bury anything. Just leave throw it without looking and it's gone forever._ He tried to push such thoughts out of his head as he kept moving forward. The signal was getting stronger.

"Jake!" someone screamed out. A child. Howard turned. The forest was a thick deterrent even on his heat scanner. "This isn't funny anymore Jake! I just wanna - AHHH!"

The screaming dissolved into hysteria. Howard caught a glimpse of red on his scanner and shoved forward towards it, towards the tiny human figure caught in the middle of the darkness. There was something else on the screen, something he couldn't recognize. With a mere thought he switched to night vision and with another he was airborne, zooming straight at something he hadn't believed in since he was three years old and his father was sober enough to tell fairy tales.

The New Jersey Devil looked at him, and smirked.

* * *

Pepper was in Howard's office, digging through his desk, when the lights came on.

The redhead peeked over the desk's flat paper covered surface up at a disapproving Rhodey. And Rhodey's mom. She sheepishly took the flashlight out of her mouth and smiled up at them before straightening up carefully. Rhodey looked exasperated. Rhodey's mom was unreadable. On the floor and in her hands were some of Howard's files, spread out and sorted carefully, in piles. Roberta's frown could've cut down anyone. Pepper's grip on the flashlight tightened. Her eyes darted between them, and she weighed her options. No amount of 'I work here' would get her through this.

So she told the truth. "He took off earlier without a word and I'm worried so I was trying to figure out where he went because he has nothing scheduled and he hasn't been okay lately but he tries so hard to pretend he is I can't get him to just _talk_ to me-"

"Breathe, Pepper," Rhodey instructed, kneeling down to scoop up the papers. "Slow down for those of us who don't speak at two hundred words a minute."

"Worried. About. Howard. He's missing and..." She ran a hand through her still oddly light feeling shortened hair. "I can't make heads or tails of any of this to find him."

"He's probably in his lab," Roberta Rhodes said sternly. "It's nothing to worry about. Sometimes he needs to be alone to think."

"No, this is different," the redhead shot back, shaking her head. "This is more serious. I can tell."

"Better than someone who's known him since he was twenty three?" she replied icily. "Breaking and entering is a serious offense. You're lucky I don't have you escorted out of the building."

"Rhodey, help me out here."

He raised his hands. "Hey, you're lucky I covered for you with your dad. It's like nine or something and you didn't call home. He's worried."

"Oh, like he's normally at home to _notice_? Please, like this is the worst his teenage daughter could get up to in New York." She shook her head in disbelief, rolling her eyes. "Whatever, I'm going home. How'd you know I'd be here anyway?"

"You've been mommy-ing Mr. Stark for the whole week."

"Ah, so you're worried your spot as Team Mom is being taken over?" she smiled, then sighed at Roberta's glare. "Oh, like you weren't here to do the same thing I was. You're so obviously in love with Howard-"

"Young lady," Roberta said in a strained voice, "If you don't want me to call security, I suggest you leave."

"On my way out," she replied calmly, storming over to the elevator. "Thanks for ratting me out Rhodey. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it."

The elevator door shut behind her before he got a chance to respond.

* * *

Howard knew the only reason he didn't scream like a little girl was because he was too scared to do it.

He flashed forward and hit the thing hard enough to dislodge the kid, and then he was out of there. With the boy secured in his arms he took to the sky, soaring above the trees, scanners seeking out any signs of human life below. He swapped back into night vision in time to duck away from the somehow scanner-invisible creature, the jets in his boots kicking in as he pulled back, carefully holding the child with both arms. The boy was four or five, crying, covered in cuts and scratches. Howard shielded him as best he could, glowing gaze aimed at the Jersey Devil.

"I just want the boy," he said clearly to it. "I just want to get him home safely. I won't ever return, I promise."

_That's not why you came here,_ an insidious voice whispered. _You come in search of the power hidden here. They all do._

"But he didn't. And neither did Jake. They're just lost little boys, and I want to take them home. I promise you that's all I'll do. I'll leave after that. You can keep your power," he said in his best negotiator voice. "It isn't worth it."

_You would really give up the power you seek for the welfare of two strangers? What are they to you? They wouldn't be the first to vanish here. You might even be able to beat me with that armor of yours-_

His scanners picked up the form of a human in the darkness. He moved towards it and the Devil, faster than was physically possible, swiped at him. Howard turned so his shoulder took the hit instead, gasping in pain but maintaining his dive for the other child. With two of them in his arms, one unconscious, it was going to be a lot harder to fly and maintain any kind of speed. He crouched on the ground over them as another blow hit his back, a voice in the suit informing him that the suit's pressurization was compromised. He'd have to fly low on the way back, then. Huddled over the children, his face plate retracted and he gasped for air.

"Just let them go. Just let them go, please, I am _begging_ you. Please. I can't see any more death. Please..."

_Swear to never return, to never even step within the Barrens. Say you will give up all of the power in its grounds and never touch it. Say it._

"I'll never come back, I'll never even come to New Jersey again, I give up the power, all the power, the Ring, whatever it is my scanners detected, it's all yours, I don't want it," he gasped out, rambling as claws sank into his legs. He could hear it breathing behind him. "I don't want anything paid for in blood, I just want to get these two out."

_Not bargaining for yourself?_

"No. Please, please, just let them go." He could hear more than see in the pitch black that the child was sobbing. The other form was listless, too still, and the nearest hospital was miles away, on foot they'd never make it, maybe if he flew fast enough he could get them out of the Barrens - he studied the darkened lines of the trees and sky, unable to tell where one ended and the other began. Tony's face flashed through his mind, eyes dull, bloody face pale. He looked up again. "I'm taking them out of here. This isn't a request."

_I can kill you._

"Ask me if I care." He steadied his grip and made a desperate burst towards the sky. "Computer, lock on a route to the nearest town, anything will do."

"Power will be insufficient to return to Stark Tower after-"

"I said do it!"

_What about their parents, 'hero'?_

"I have heat scanners. I know what you did," he yelled back. "You're lucky I don't do revenge!"

_Oh, you don't?_ He sounded amused. _How very noble of you. I suppose you think that's impressive-_

"Done talking!" he snapped, diving abruptly at the sight of a path, curving and flying along with it, towards the ends of the Barrens. The wind was chilling to the kids, but cold was preferable to dead.

When the mythological being he hadn't believed in an hour ago popped up again in front of him, Howard turned and angled his crash into it. Since it was airborne, it had no way to stop the unexpected ramming, and he rammed it into the ground without ever slowing. The openness of the hills was up ahead, visible and tantalizing, even if he knew it was far from an assured victory. He didn't dare pull up above the treeline where he was an open target. He didn't have a plan for what to do when he hit the open road. There was none of his characteristic planning and caution here, because the freaking _Jersey Devil_ was not something he'd planned for.

By some sort of miracle, the thing vanished off his radar once he was out of the forest. He didn't know why and didn't care. The computer took over the flying as he began to formulate a plan on how to explain this to Roberta tomorrow.

One thing was for sure - he couldn't tell her the truth. It was too stupid.

* * *

In the end, he ended up renting a truck and driving himself home.

The armor had to be covered up and he had two unlucky interns haul it into the lab, where he threw another tarp over it, tipped them both and called it a night. It was dawn by the time he made it back to the office, clutching a cup of coffee and yawning. That had gone... well, all things considered, that was probably the best that insane venture could have possible gone. At least he didn't have to worry about the Mandarin getting ahold of the Ring. No one would be able to get past that monster.

If he were less tired he'd wonder if other urban legends were real - if the existance of the Jersey Devil validated the Delphos Wolf Girl or Slender Man or the Lady In Red. As it was, he didn't even spare them a thought as he reached for his cell phone. Twelve missed calls. Eleven of which were from Pepper. _She does know that I'm supposed to be her mentor, not the other way around, right?_ Well, whatever. She had good intentions. He was too tired to be mad.

When he saw the Ring on his desk, he found that he was also too tired to feel victorious.

Instead, he slipped it onto his hand before telling Tricia he was going to take the day off. Then he trudged back to the silent tomb he called a home, took two Xanax and a shot of vodka, and passed out before he even got to the bed.

Hopefully, no one would notice his drug induced hangover the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

Mixing vodka and Xanax could be lethal.

Except Howard was a genius and could do calculations based off his own height and weight that kept him within in the realm of safety. Not that he thought knocking himself out repeatedly was a good idea, he just enjoyed the benefits too much not to do it. He was tired of real life sometimes and needed an escape. After Maria's death he'd immediately knocked himself out. Roberta had found him curled up on the floor of his living room and lectured him.

"You have to keep it together," she'd told him firmly. "For Tony."

So much for that.

He rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling fan. Roberta was used to him disappearing for a day or two now. She wouldn't know anything was wrong if he played his cards right. He looked at the two Rings, one gotten from the Jersey Devil, and wished he was a drinking man, because it was all too much to take sober. That said, he _did_ have appearances to maintain and companies to manage, so with no small amount of effort, he pulled himself to his feet. The room tilted dangerously.

There was a little nagging voice in his head telling him this was a bad idea and a dangerous lapse of judgment. He ignored that voice because it wasn't like he did this every day. Many a night he'd laid awake in terror, not knowing if his father was sad drunk or vicious in the midst of a cocaine crash or even going to come home that night. He'd never let Tony see him like this. He would never hurt anyone. He didn't do these things so he could have fun, he just took breaks from life. This wasn't an addiction, it didn't control his life, and he wasn't hurting anyone but himself, so it wasn't really a problem. A bad habit, maybe, but nothing more than that.

When he walked through the doors of his building at one in the afternoon, he expected everyone to be at work and busy. The absence of one boss didn't mean the Earth stopped, after all. Life went on with or without Howard Stark at the helm. What he didn't realize was that the footsteps he heard were headed for him until suddenly someone was hugging him from behind, nearly knocking him over.

"Oh my God I was so worried I called like a bijillion times but you didn't answer so I thought you were mad at me for 'overstepping my boundaries' or something but then Roberta called and you didn't answer her either and that was weird since you two are BFFs so I came to work and you weren't there I mean here but you are now so-"

"Pepper, _breathe_," he instructed, looking a little worried at the rapid speed of her dialogue. "I had a late night, I slept in and now I'm here. I think it'd be on the news if something really bad had happened to me."

"Actually due to laws involving suspects and plausible deniability if you'd been murdered or suspected of a murder nobody would've said anything. See, my dad told me that sometimes premature announcements give the suspects time to flee so you'd be in custody or the guy who did it would but no one would know until they were sure they knew what they were doing."

"I don't know what's worse," he said dryly as he walked towards the elevator, "Your energy level at this point in the day, or the fact that you know so much classified information."

"Oh, I know things a lot more classified than _that_. But I only use my powers for good." She smiled at him, like a burst of sunshine in human form. "Anyway, I got you sweetbreads! I had to hunt all over town but the internet is a beautiful thing. They're in the mini fridge in the breakroom. I thought I'd have to guard it but nobody's touching them for some reason."

He managed a smile at her sarcasm. "Thank you, Pepper. I appreciate it. I'll have to get you something nice some time to pay you back for it. Though I think your father would kill me if I got you any spy gear."

She deflated visibly. "I can't even ask for a jetpack?"

"You'd need a license to operate it in New York airspace. The law's pretty clear on that one. Sorry, Pepper." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm rich. I can get you something better than a jetpack."

"Two jetpacks?" she asked hopefully. At the look he gave her, she giggled. "Well, it was worth a shot. So, what were you doing last night?"

"Business in New Jersey. I made the very dumb move of driving back because private jets aren't good for the environment, and then forgot to turn on my alarm clock." Technically speaking, none of that was a _lie_, just a creative wording of the truth. "You'd think at my age I'd be able to come into work on time. But one of the advantages to being the boss is that I don't have to. I miss anything?"

"Stane wants to talk to you."

He leaned his head against the elevator wall. "Damn it."

She shifted uneasily. "Um, so..."

Immoral as it would've been, at that moment he dearly would've loved to have some Xanax on him. Obadiah... God, what a mess this whole thing was. Because unlike Howard, Obadiah _had_ indulged in his vices - greed, anger and pride had taken over his life. He was toxic. If he hadn't been Howard's friend for so many years, if there wasn't such a long history between them, he could've legitimately fired him many times. But Howard remembered to before Obadiah's wife died, before his relationship with Whitney became so strained, and he knew there was still a good heart buried under all that cold steel. He could see Obadiah trying to kill him. He could see Obadiah being innocent.

He hadn't fired him completely, but he'd carefully planned it so that Obadiah would be spending a lot of time out of the New York area. Howard was still a businessman. He knew to keep his enemies under watch and out of the blast radius. People called it sentimentality that was keeping him from firing the bald man. The truth was if he was innocent and Howard fired him, the resulting revenge might be worse than having a backstabber in his business. He'd seen Obadiah smile cruelly and destroy the life of the man who killed his wife, orchestrating a media circus around the trial.

"Don't. Don't ask me if he was involved or if I'm angry at him. I don't know." He rubbed his temple. "I'm working on it. Is he still here?"

"Yeah, he's been waiting for a while. What should I tell him?"

"That I'm busy with a meeting. That I'm in the middle of a conference. Something business like and professional." He gestured vaguely. "I don't know, make me sound like I'm working."

* * *

"Howard is still trying to deal with Tony's death," Pepper said firmly. "He's trying to run one of the biggest companies in the world and he's had no time to breathe, and you need to give him time. I don't think he thinks you did it, but he's withdrawing from everybody, even Roberta, so you should just back off and wait a while."

"I... see," Obadiah said slowly. "And he told you to say this?"

"No, he wanted me to feed you some crap about being in a meeting." She made a dismissive hand gesture, calmly ignoring the wishes of her boss before charging on to do verbal combat. "Look, I don't think he's slept all week. If you're really his friend or a good guy, you'll let him have some time to grieve. If you really care, send him chitlins."

He raised both eyebrows at her. "Chitlins."

She blushed and coughed. "It sounded better in my head. Anyway, he's not mad at you, so you should just give it time and I'm sure your bromance will recover."

He nodded solemnly. "Thank you, miss - bromance?" he asked, aghast. "What does _that_ mean?"

Pepper giggled and rushed off. "I'll tell him you understand! See ya!"

"...I hate gophers."

* * *

"Anyway Stane seems like he understands and I'm a girl so I can tell because we can read body language really well. And Howard seemed happier when I told him so it's all good! Isn't it great? They might get back together! Not that they're dating or anything I mean your mom seems more like she'd be the he'd go for if he was going to date one of his friends. At least she's a girl, you know? So in a theoretical match up she'd win over Stane. Anyway why are you being so quiet?"

"Well, for one thing you talk over me," Rhodey sighed. "For another, I'm trying to watch the news. Turn it on, there's some psuedo-terrorist group holding Blythe Co employees hostage."

"Oh my God! That's like three bloccks from Howard's place! I have to call him!"

Rhodey stared at the phone in his hand as it beeped at him. _I don't think I understand girls. At all._ He shook his head and turned his attention back to the screen, where a gold and red figure was on screen-

Tony's armor.

For a terrifying moment he thought it had been stolen. He thought that it had been taken by the people that killed Tony. But Tony had put a genetic lock into the armor to keep random strangers from using it even if they found it. And they'd have to get past other security redundancies. There was no way it could be anyone except Tony's father. And that was just impossible. It was unthinkable. Howard was a nice man, a good guy, but he was too rich, too important to do this. Superheroes were nobodies, they were young, they were violent - they weren't Mr. Stark.

He was entirely the wrong age. Superheroes were young, in their twenties and teens, and the standard age was dropping with time. Someone in his late thirties wouldn't have crossed Rhodey's mind even if he wasn't a pacifist and a public figure on top of everything else. He wasn't the type. He wasn't the kind of person to do things behind people's back. Howard was old fashioned and dedicated to being a good person. Honor before reason was the Stark company's unofficial motto. Sure, he'd been employed by SHIELD at one point, but not as a combatant. He was an engineer, not a superhero.

Rhodey got up slowly and, as if in a trance, walked to his mother's den, where he knew he could find Howard's cell phone number and hopefully get answers to his questions.

As soon as he regained the ability to speak, that was.

* * *

Howard really didn't want to see this end badly.

For one thing, he knew the head of Blythe Co, and he was a cheerful man. Utterly gay, utterly cheerful and perpetually enticing Howard to either drink or dance with some girl at every charity ball they'd ever attended, Blythe was the kind of person who suffered from bouts of steep depression when he had to let employees go. To have them killed by a paramilitary group of nutbags would ruin him. For another thing, these employees were just ordinary people who were doing their jobs. _Like your wife,_ a voice hissed in the back of his head. _Innocent bystanders._ He winced. He really didn't need to think about _that_ again, at least not until he was out of the air. When he was dodging blasts of ice, that wasn't the time to contemplate his place in the universe.

The manuverability of the suit was astounding, as was the precision of the lasers. He aimed for their weapons, not for them. Whatever group they were with, whatever cause they represented, he would not hurt them anymore than was absolutely necessary. Tony had the foresight to put in sonic cannons, and that was what he was going to use on them. Even the mutants in their group couldn't take a laser blast. He swerved again to avoid a blast of ice that burst through the cement of the neighboring building. _They're playing for keeps._ A few choice laser bursts took three of the nastier looking weapons out of their hands, but the next thing he knew he was thrown off kilter by a thick layer of ice that weighed him down even through the anti gravity field.

He blasted it off, pulling up high into the air to reduce the mutant's aim, and that was when he switched tactics. "Can't you see what you're doing?" He yelled, voice amplified and disguised by the armor. "You're going to fuel the media's prejudice view of mutants with this! Anything you'll accomplish will be for nothing!"

"Shut up!" was the intelligent reply of the girl wielding the ice powers. And then she threw a blast at him that he had the luck of blasting apart. The shards fell like glass rain around her, and though many mutants were immune to their own powers, she threw her arms up to shield herself instinctively. He barrelled down with all his speed to skid to a landing in the center of the group and blast them with his sonic cannon. The good news was, that took everyone out.

The bad news was, the reporters were swarming, and mutantkind really didn't need any more bad publicity. His suit was damaged and he'd have to make modifications to withstand the extreme cold in the future or he'd be doomed come winter. His superhero-hood was now irrevocably declared. His gopher might've noticed he had vanished just as the new hero showed up. To top it all off, Rhodey was calling, which either meant Roberta was gravely injured or he knew Howard was the guy in the suit.

_Well,_ he thought, already feeling exhausted, _at least I'm not out of Xanax._

* * *

**Author's Note:** Not a lot of action in this chapter, but the plot moves forward more than before. Next chapter we have Gene Khan trying to enter the picture, more business talk, continued substance abuse, the start of Howard's Rogues Gallery and a special guest appearance by another superhero. Cheers!


End file.
